![]() This film was nominated as Best Feature in the 1967 Chicago International Film Festival, where it was premiered under the title I Call First, getting a rave review from Roger Ebert, as ‘a work that is absolutely genuine, artistically satisfying and technically comparable to the best films being made anywhere. JR now desperately struggles to accept the secret hidden by his girlfriend in a tale of Catholic guilt reminiscent of Mean Streets (1973). He thinks she is a virgin, but one day she reveals she was raped by a former boyfriend. Keitel plays JR, a typical Catholic Italian-American young man on the streets of New York City, who meets a free-spirited local girl (Zina Bethune) on the Staten Island Ferry. The film became Who’s That Knocking at My Door, after its end song, written by Claude Johnson and Fred Jones, and performed by The Genies. So Scorsese shot and edited a montage of JR fantasising about bedding a series of prostitutes (shot in Amsterdam with an older-looking Keitel). Then Joseph Brenner proposed to buy and distribute the film in 1968, but only if a sex scene was added so it could be promoted as a sexploitation movie. But next a romance plot was added in 1967 to make a feature film, which was premiered as I Call First. Shot with 35 mm and 16 mm cameras, it started as Bring on the Dancing Girls, a 1965 student short about a group of New York City layabouts. Though obviously a very tentative, early work, it gets a lot of value for its ultra low budget of $75,000. Writer-director Martin Scorsese’s 1967 drama film is notable as his feature film directorial debut and Harvey Keitel’s debut as an actor. Interestingly, although nudity and sex and sexual violence are fully on display here, language is tame by today's standards.Who’s That Knocking at My Door *** (1967, Harvey Keitel, Zina Bethune, Anne Collette) – Classic Movie Review 5372 ![]() Here Scorsese is already tackling a lifelong theme regarding the hypocrisy of church adherents who sin but set strict standards for the behavior of others, as well as Catholic guilt. And note that t Who's That Knocking at My Door? is edited by Thelma Schoonmaker, who has remained a close collaborator through decades of his great films, including Raging Bull, The Age of Innocence, The Wolf of Wall Street, and Goodfellas. That said, Scorsese's visual skills, ingenuity on a low budget, and ability to make the most of raw young acting talent is unmistakable. Teens used to quick-paced, polished, color, expertly-edited blockbusters may view this slow, grainy character study as a lot of boring parts surrounding a bit of soft-core-porn. Scorsese uses non-actors and employs a little too much improvisation. Here's an unusual look at the early work of a director who would soon after show enormous skill and ability, making it fascinating for students of film and far less interesting for anyone else. He goes to church to confess, surrounded by jump cuts of religious statuary depicting the crucifixion, Christ's wounds, and the Virgin Mary's grief. She stands up for herself, and says "no," explaining that he would always "find a way to bring it up." He says "damn right," and calls her a whore. After their breakup, he returns to her, hesitatingly apologizes, and tells her that he's still willing to marry her despite her second-class status. She's clearly ashamed that she was raped and understands that he would see her as tainted goods. When she later reveals that she was date-raped (shown in a disturbingly violent flashback), he's angry, accusing her of lying to him to cover up the fact that she's already had sex. When they finally have a sexual encounter, he refuses to go any farther than kissing and touching, but won't explain that he's serious about her and, as a Catholic, won't have sex with her until after marriage. He falls for a far more refined girl (Zina Bethune) than the prostitutes/"loose" women he usually hangs out with, and when he stands in her studio apartment filled with jazz records and books, including Fitzgerald's "Tender is the Night," he seems both interested and fearful that he doesn't measure up. appreciates the beauty of nature, and he's a film buff with good taste. ![]() When they take a trip to the countryside, Joey (Lennard Kuras) complains nonstop, but J.R. ![]() ( Harvey Keitel) seems to be the one guy who has the potential to be better than the idiots he hangs out with. ![]() WHO'S THAT KNOCKING AT MY DOOR focuses on three low-life New York wise-guy wannabes who drink, smoke, party, and sleep with prostitutes (sex scenes feature full nudity), but have no qualms about setting higher standards for the behavior of others. ![]()
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